Audiopile Review: A recurring theme around here is the phenomenon of the artists who are so consistently brilliant it’s almost annoying. You know the type: every album is great and just different enough from the last that you’ve gotta get it. It’s a good problem to have, as they say. But it’s a real problem when said brilliant artist is as prolific as Tokyo-based ambient maestro Chihei Hatakeyama. Since his debut for Kranky records in 2006, this guy has apparently released 70 albums. And they’re all gorgeous! Okay fine, we have not heard them all. But the ones we have heard are truly heavenly confections of processed guitar and vibraphone. Most of Hatakeyama’s releases have been CD or digital only, so we tend to wait for the ones that make it to vinyl. This is usually a sign of a stand-out release, after all. And ‘Hachirōgata Lake’ is certainly that. It comes courtesy of Field Records, the folks who recently did an excellent reissue of Monolake’s ‘Hongkong’. Do they have a thing about lakes? Maybe, as this new Hatakeyama release makes heavy use of field recordings made around the eponymous lake (alongside his usual processed instrumental bliss). If you’re unable to keep up with this guy’s output, ‘Hachirōgata Lake’ is a lovely place to take a dip in.

Matching expansive ambience with environmental sound, Chihei Hatakeyama’s new album continues Field Records’ exploration of Japan and the Netherland’s shared approach to water management. As with Sugai Ken’s 2020 album Tone River, a specific project becomes Hatakeyama’s area of focus — in this case the Hachirōgata Lake in Akita Prefecture. Previously the second largest body of water in Japan, the government ordered extensive drainage work of Hachirōgata Lake after the second world war with the help of Dutch engineers Pieter Jansen and Adriaan Volker. After the project was completed in 1977, reclaimed land took up eighty percent of Hachirōgata Lake’s total size. As a result, a new ecosystem was established as plants spread from surrounding areas, bringing with them a wider variety of birds and other wildlife. Hatakeyama’s approach to this unique subject matter took in field recordings from particular locations around the lake — the drainage channels, the Ogata bridge, grassland conservation reserves and other key areas. The aquatic subject matter and sonic material is a natural fit for Hatakeyama’s accomplished sound, which has featured on numerous solo works for labels including Kranky, Room40 and his self-run White Paddy Mountain. From the intimate intricacies of the sampled material to the glacial expanses of droning synthesis and languid guitar, Hatakeyama creates a tangible environment which at once reflects the settings around Hachirōgata Lake, while offering the listener any number of imagined scenes to observe in their mind’s eye.